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Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Binondo Food Wok

The Big Binondo Food Wok, originally known as the "Old Manila Walks" was initiated by a passionate advocate of the conservation of Heritage in Old Manila Mr Ivan Man Dy, which today is one of the most influential Tourist Guides in Metro Manila.

Because of such success of his "Big Binondo Food Wok" which is literally a Walking Tour about the Heritage Sites of Binondo while gracefully enjoying the tastes of different chinese foods along the area of Metro's China Town, me and my sister Charity together with our brother-in-law Kuya Niño decided to try the walking tour on our own while searching the best siopao in town being suggested by fellow travel bloggers.

Yes, we literally had our own search of the ever delicious chinese siopao from the Masuki Mami Restaurant in Binondo where celebrity star Ms Kc Concepcion with her then-TV show "Simply KC" and even Ms Korina Sanchez' "Rated K" Show gracefully tasted the foods. Not to mention that we are not familiar with our own destination.

Crazy as it sounds but we really wanted to taste the "scrumptious foods" originally coming from this chinese restaurant as described by Mr Sandy Daza of Philippine Daily Inquirer (October 24, 2009).

Our tour started in Divisoria where we had a walking tour searching for the Manila China Town with no idea on where the area is located.

TRIVIA:

Manila Chinatown is considered to be the oldest Chinatown in the world created and established in 1594 by Spanish Governor Luis Perez Dasmariñas as a permanent settlement for Chinese immigrants who converted to Catholicism. Accordingly, the Spanish called the Chinese Sangleys.

The name "Binondo" is a toponym derived from the archaic spelling of the Tagalog term "binondoc" (modern orthography: binundok), or mountainous, referring to the district's originally hilly terrain.

Purely, an old way of a simple interview from the locals help us reached Binondo. Yes, we traveled for almost 2 hours from the starting point reaching the area on foot. Seriously, we really had no idea where are we heading that's why we reached to that point of hours.

Before reaching our destination, we had a glimpse of the well-preserved Binondo Church also known as Minor Basilica of St. Lorenzo Ruiz and Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish. Located at Ongpin Street of Binondo, an enclave in Manila which is primarily populated by ethnic Chinese people, and fronting Plaza Calderon de La Barca, Binondo Church is one of the oldest churches in the Philippines.

Accordingly, the church was founded by Dominican priests around 1596 to serve the Chinese converts to Christianity. Moreover, the original building was destroyed in 1762 by British bombardment. Nonetheless, a new granite church was completed on the same site in 1852. 20 years after, the church was burned during the Biritish invasion of 1872. The western facade and the octagonal bell tower were the only remnants during the Second World War.

Additional Information (from wikipedia.org):

San Lorenzo Ruiz, who was born of a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, trained in this church and afterwards went as a missionary to Japan and was executed there for refusing to renounce his religion. San Lorenzo Ruiz was to be the Philippines' first saint and he was canonized in 1987. A large statue of the martyr stands in front of the church.

Masses are held in Filipino, in Chinese dialects (Mandarin, Hokkien), and in English.

Aside of being one of the oldest churches in the country, what fascinates me about the church is the fact that the wedding of Andres Bonifacio (Supremo of Katipunan) with her wife Gregoria de Jesus (A daughter of a local official in Caloocan) was held here during the 6th of October 1893.

We took about 20 minutes walk while looking for the Masuki Mami Restaurant where a kind chinese local gave us the right direction. Finally, we reached the area!

We then ordered their famed Pork Siopao with a side dish of Pork Siomai. The feature of its bun is traditionally the same with other siopao makers however, once I ate it, the taste is so much different from the others."Siopao is steamed pork buns. It is the Filipino version of the Cantonese char siu bao [chahr shoo bou], which is a bun — bao — filled with barbecued pork — char siu — either steamed or baked. Filipinos typically fill their siopao with pork, too, which can be pot-roasted — asado [ah-sah-doh] or ground and shaped like meatballs."

THE TASTE IS SUPERB-SCRUMPTIOUS THAT I COULD EXPERIENCE LIP SMACKING!Yes, the siopao is far different from the others because of such softness of its the dough traditionally steamed where you could taste the pork meat filling on it. Add a little sauce to the bun and then "hàochī"! (A chinese word for tasty/delicious) The quality of its taste is superb-scrumptious that i could experience lip smacking after!

Me with Kuya Niño eating this "haochi" siopao!

The siomai is also tasty like the foods from this restaurant are so special. I was thinking what kind of recipe they added to make it more delicious. Hmmmm. I'm sure its PURE LOVE!

Look! I had my photo souvenir too with KC! :)

Because of such tasty, I consumed almost 3 Pork Siopao from this "Wok" and even my colleagues experienced satisfaction from the food. I'll be back soon for more food experience! :)P.S.: KC Photos are taken from Masuki Mami Restaurant's Official Facebook Page.